Claire Curzan Transferring to University of Virginia
One of the most accomplished teenage swimmers in the country will have a new training base this fall. Claire Curzan has announced her decision to transfer to the University of Virginia, joining a program led by head coach Todd DeSorbo that has won three consecutive women’s national titles. Curzan, who spent the first year of her college career at Stanford, announced her decision in an Instagram post Monday.
Curzan, a native of Cary, N.C., where she trained during her high school years with the TAC Titans, was a key international performer for the U.S. in 2021 and 2023 but did not qualify for this year’s World Championships team.
Curzan was a key swimmer in Stanford’s third-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2023. Individually, Curzan won the 200-backstroke at NCAAs after placing third in the 100 butterfly and fourth in the 100 back. In long course, Curzan qualified for 2021 Olympics as the runnerup in the 100-meter fly at the U.S. Olympic Trials, and in 2022, having just graduated from high school, Curzan was a key player on the U.S. roster at the Budapest World Championships. She won five medals, anchoring the mixed 400 medley relay and women’s 400 medley relay to gold while taking bronze in the 100 back.
This year, however, Curzan battled illness just before Nationals and missed qualifying for the Fukuoka Worlds. She was the third-place finisher in the 100 and 200 back as well as the 50 fly, and she took fourth in the 100 fly. She did not qualify for finals in either the 50 free or 100 free. However, Curzan’s times in two events at Nationals would have actually been fast enough to win a medal at Worlds, with her 200 back mark of 2:06.35 faster than the bronze-medal time (2:06.74) and her 56.61 100 fly would have matched American Torri Huske, the winner at Nationals, for bronze.
Prior to declaring her intention to transfer, Curzan had indicated she would take an Olympic redshirt from college competition. It’s unclear whether she now plans compete for Virginia during this upcoming collegiate season, but she is expected to be enrolled in classes in Charlottesville, Va., this fall.
Stanford seems to have lost several very good swimmers prior to their graduation. What is going on with Stanford Swimming?
The coaches, something is up with them. Regan left, Katy left, and now Claire. It’s obvious there’s something swimmers don’t particularly enjoy about the team.
Technically, she’s ineligible to compete for UVA next year because she entered the transfer portal so late – but she could presumably get an exemption if she wanted to.